From block placement to blended model: the way forward for social work practicum in Ghana

ABSTRACT

The extant literature on social work education has underscored several factors that hinder the satisfaction of social work students during practicum. Whether or not the adopted social work practicum model influences practice outcomes for students is unknown. Based on the contextual challenges of social work education and the need to ensure culturally relevant social work practice (aka indigenization) in Africa, we explored how the practicum model of a University in Ghana could be modeled to meet the learning outcome of social work students. Thematic analysis from interviews with 18 social work students who had completed their practicum at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana, showed a consensus on introducing a blended model to guide the social work practicum in Ghana. The findings from the study underscored students’ advocacy for a blended model, their displeasure with the mismatch of agency and area of interest due to the practicum model and the unexpected challenges and anxieties they face as novice practitioners. The study has profound implications for social work education in Ghana, including the need to introduce models such as ‘my first experience as a social worker’ into the practicum orientation programs for social work schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work practicum
• practicum model
• social work placement
• social work education
• Ghana

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Enoch Boafo Amponsah

Enoch Boafo Amponsah is a Doctoral Student at the Rutgers University School of Social Work. His publication and interest surround issues of violence against children and women in sub-Saharan Africa and social work education. During his masters degree at the University of Oxford, Enoch conducted a systematic review on the commercial sexual exploitation of children in sub-Saharan Africa for his thesis.

Mary Ayim

Mary Ayim is a PhD student with the Department of Social Work and Social Care, University of Birmingham (UOB), UK. She has social work practice and research experience in issues relating to social care and mental health, social work professional practices and education, community and social development.

John Boulard Forkuor

John Boulard Forkuor is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, KNUST. His research focuses on transformation in urban areas and its implication for urban social life. His publications have appeared in journals like Gender Studies; Urban Review; Sage Open; Journal of Contemporary African Studies; Urban Forum; and Qualitative Social Work.